Releases and Phases

The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system was implemented in four Releases

Selecting the most appropriate ERP software package and a suitable partner to assist UNIDO with its implementation was a challenging task. Information on benchmarks, lessons learned and best practices collected from other organizations as well as the results of the business process reengineering (BPR) exercise formed the basis for the thorough selection process of an ERP system and implementation partner. Based on an international bidding exercise carried out in 2010, the recommendations of a cross-organizational evaluation group as well as extensive negotiations, a contract for the ERP system and the implementation services was signed with SAP. The ERP system has been implemented in four releases over the period 2010 to 2013 as follows:

Release 3: Finance, procurement and logistics – go-live: gradually as of January 2013

Release 4: Knowledge management and collaboration – go-live: gradually as of January 2013

The SAP implementation followed the Accelerated SAP (ASAP) methodology which is carried out in six stages:

1. Project Preparation

In the project preparation phase, the project team defines project goals, a high-level scope, and a project plan. Executive sponsorship is secured, and the project standards and organization are set up. The implementation strategy is defined and approved. At the same time, the project procedures, standards, organization, and staffing are finalized. Roles and responsibilities of the entire project team are agreed upon and documented. The objectives of the project are validated, and all initiation activities are documented in the project charter.

2. Business Blueprint

During this business blueprint phase, solution and technical designs are documented in the business blueprint. Lead by solution and industry experts from the SAP Consulting organization, a series of structured process workshops are planned and executed to arrive at the “to-be delivered" SAP enterprise solution. All functional and technical requirements, coupled with project issues and gaps, are documented in the SAP Solution Manager application management solution.

3. Realization

Configuration is documented in SAP Solution Manager. All development such as enterprise services, interfaces, data conversion programs, reports, and any required enhancements are built and documented in SAP Solution Manager. Legacy data conversion programs are created and tested. The production system is installed during realization.

4. Final Preparation

Within the final preparation phase, all systems are known to function correctly following the approved integration test. Technically, all integration issues should now be resolved. Detailed transition and cutover plans are created. The customer support organization is put in place. The production system is set up with transports and customer data. At the end of this phase, the production system is switched on and business operations start in the new environment.

5. Go-live Support

The purpose of the go-live support phase is to move from a preproduction environment to live production operation. An easily accessible production support organization must be in place to support the end-user community, not just for the first critical days of production operations, but also for long-term support.

6. Run

The primary goal of the run phase is to ensure the operability of the solution. Operability is the ability to maintain IT solutions in a functioning and operating condition, guaranteeing systems availability and required performance levels to support the execution of the enterprise’s business operations. The recommended starting point of the phase is an assessment of solution operation after the go-live support phase to identify the relevant SAP standards for solution operations to be established or improved in the phase. The central operation platform is SAP Solution Manager, with the documented solution based on the transferred project documentation.